Digital strategies for multilingual education in India: A systematic review

India has 22 languages in its constitution, as well as numerous regional and tribal languages. It is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world. Research shows that learning using mother tongue improves basic understanding, literacy, and confidence. The National Education Policy 2020 strongly encourages the to use multilingual and mother-tongue-based education up to class 5, enabling students to learn more effectively and develop their understanding. At the same time, quick progress in educational technology, like digital learning platforms, artificial intelligence, machine translation tools and open educational resources, has made it possible to support multilingual education on a large scale through digital platforms DIKSHA, SWAYAM, BHASHINI and Regional language digital content platforms, etc.

The objective of this systematic literature review is to investigate the use of digital technologies in supporting multilingual education. Specifically, it aims to identify key digital platforms and tools used in multilingual classrooms, understand the teaching approaches and policies, examine the learning outcomes and challenges reported in existing studies and identify research gaps to suggest future directions for technology-enabled multilingual education.

In this study, a Systematic review is conducted using the PRISMA principles. For this, research articles published between 2017 to 2026 were collected from the ERIC database. The studies were selected using clear inclusion and exclusion criteria, with a focus on multilingual education and the use of technology. The selected studies were then analyzed thematically to find common themes, results and challenges.

The review shows that technology helps to increase access to learning materials in different languages through digital platforms. Students show better interest, understanding and basic reading abilities when they learn using digital resources in their mother tongue. It also helps teachers to access material in multiple languages. These results imply that technology has significant potential to promote multilingual education and enhance educational equity in India.